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Thursday April 10 2014

NGO tips public on water safety

In Summary

He said they also do not care about the environment they live in yet 75 per cent of the human body is comprised of water at birth and ranges from 50 to 65 per cent in adults.

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By Stephen Otage

Kampala- Early exposure to waterborne diseases, coupled with repeated infections is making Ugandans die early, a new study shows. According to Mr Zephaniah Mukalere, the country director of Water School Uganda, an NGO, said basing on interventions they have carried out in eight districts, most children and mothers, who repeatedly suffer from waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrheoa and dysentery, pay less attention to the water they consume. He said they also do not care about the environment they live in yet 75 per cent of the human body is comprised of water at birth and ranges from 50 to 65 per cent in adults.

“Malaria is the number one killer in Uganda yet people are not so keen on keeping their home environments clean,” Mr Mukalere said at the annual general meeting of the NGO in Kampala at the weekend.

The study was conducted in Kamuli, Ngora, Kisoro and Busia, among other districts.

However, Mr Mukalere said the NGO had reduced the disease incidence.

He said some facilities in Kisoro and Busia built to handle infections have been closed due to redundancy. “In Kisoro, the district hospital closed a ward which had been constructed specifically for dysentery patients, while in Buyanga Sub-county in Busia District, the pit-latrine coverage increased from 61 per cent to 84 per cent by training 1,171 households,” Mr Mukalere said.

He said they also introduced solar energy water treatment where water is placed in a plastic bottle and exposed to the sun for eight hours to kill germs.